DJI Phantom 2 Vision + Review

Soon to be public, there is a new site coming that will be bringing best of market to Canadian consumers. All tolled, there are nine of us that have a part of a company called alpha drones inc.

That company will be bringing products from manufacturers that we determine build the best products in their categories. There isn’t one UAV that will do all things best. I have been flying varieties of air craft for 20 years and I can attest that this is true. Today I got the chance to lose my proverbial cherry when it comes to DJI product. They are a manufacturer that has specialized in platforms that are stable, and filled with technology. Well they are one of the products we are bringing to alpha drones, and we unboxed one today. We will have that vid later, but for now some pictures and opinion.

Picture from the included camera.

I have quads that I have fun with (200QX/350QX/Black Mamba) and I have used those for video for a while.

Phantom 2 Vision + Boxed

I have tried to make them do things they weren’t really meant to do. They weren’t built with the main focus being video. Stable, smooth, and user friendly video.

The Phantom line of Quad Copters was built for video. We brought in 4 different products. This was the first one that we looked at.

The look was similar to the first line of Phantoms. Simple white plastic arms, and a strong landing gear.

Now off on a tangent here, but I am one who is impressed by detail. The box, packaging, internal packaging, manuals, materials, and software applications are spectacular. I have gone through all their products in our shipment and right down to the antenna box. Detail. Ok…back to the review….

My main quirk with the look…….red lights and red stripes on the front. I always have red at the back. Grew up with cars and brake lights being burned into my mind since the age of 9. I got used to it, just don’t understand it. Oh yeah…rear lights? Green.

Other than that, it was a bit bigger than I thought. You open up the box, and take out the quad, and open up a variety of smaller boxes containing 8 props (full set of extras), charger with every plug you will ever need for any country, usb cable, extras such as rubber grommets and prop removal tool. V
ery nice.

The controller, simple white, comes with the range extender (like a wifi access point that talks to the UAV, and to your phone, providing streaming video. It also has a holder for your smart phone to allow you to see the real time video from the camera. This is well made metal, solid, and included.

Now the camera. From attachment plates, to the gimbal build itself. Metal. Beautifully made aluminum and is smooth and solid. The camera is made of the same material, and comes with a plastic insert that you must remove before use. Keep it for if you are every taking it travelling and want to put it back. Even though you paid close to thirteen hundred dollars for the complete unit, that feeling of guilt goes away when you feel the quality in the components. Specs are more than ample for any budding videographer. 1080P30, or 1080i60. 720P60 for slow motion use, and 14MP still that support Adobe RAW. The DJI Vision app is easy to install and very easy to use. We used the Android version, and I am running it on my BlackBerry Z30 as an Android app and
it works with very little latency. Again, impressed.

I have to say that my opinion of this camera compared to the obvious GoPro3 is difficult to conclude. I think that the colors popped on this camera. Clouds in the blue sky. The green grass. Not as sharp. I found that this was more than compensated for the smooth motion and bright colors. Remember, this camera comes with. It also comes with a 4GB SD card. Not a lot, but included. The app lets you tilt the camera. On some devices, you can tilt your phone and have it tilt the camera. Pretty cool.

On to the flying. Now the controller is a little different than ones you may be used to. All the controllers I have used have throttle starting at the bottom, and you move it up as you spin up. Well the DJI controller that is included has a spring centered throttle stick.

This means that if left alone, it will be in the center just like the right stick. You move both sticks to the lower inside corners, and that starts the motors. Oh yeah, the props just spin on. They spin on in a direction that causes them to stay tight as the motors torque them in that direction. Balanced, quiet, and when you move past center and lift off, you can let the throttle stick go back to center and the Vision + just sits there. Holds steady. GPS and barometric sensors doing their job. Sits there. You can look down. Slap a mosquito, look at the app, and it sits there. Adjust the camera. Wind hitting it and it sits there. Camera looks like it hasn’t moved at all.

Four of us tried it. Four of us had huge smiles on our faces. Impressed with every facet of the experience.

I admit, I wrung it out. Fast smooth long runs with big turns in the sky. I watched the video after. Unbelievable. This platform is amazing for both a novice, but also someone who wants to get some fantastic video.

We flew for over 20 minutes before we brought it down to land. Pulling down on the throttle as is softly settles to the ground. Then both stick so the outside corners and the motors turn off.

You will want two batteries at least. This platform will empower you if you have ever had the vision of pictures and video from the air.

I will be curious as to how my review compares with the Phantom 2 and H3 3D gimbal with a GoPro3. Look for that soon.